From rice to gelato?

We're going to ITALY!!!!

We planned four months for just SEA with a quick hop to Bali at the end but everyone we met at the beginning of the trip wasn't impressed with Bali so we decided to cut it out and were looking for a replacement. It came down to South America or Italy. South America is much cheaper but we've never been to Europe. Since our future in the States is unknown with Michael starting his PhD in the fall we felt now was as good of time as ever. Since we'll be on that side of the world we just might make a stop to see Mom and Dad before heading back to the west coast.